Chapter 72
The 'Dark Dragon' is a legendary monster said to possess power equal to or greater than the Demon King’s—the strongest monster of all. It is said to exist somewhere in this world, though it’s uncertain whether it truly does. Still, some books contain accounts of it having existed in the past and of people seeing it with their own eyes.
“I know about it, but... what about it?”
As Kagami called up old memories, he tilted his head.
It was only by chance that Kagami knew of the creature. He remembered a time when he’d been gathering every scrap of information he could find about monsters, searching for worthy opponents to help him grow stronger. That was when he saw the name in an old book sold by a traveling merchant.
“If we could defeat the Dark Dragon... how much money do you think we’d get?”
“How should I know? Well... the rewards go up with the strength of the enemy, so even if it isn’t a special monster like a Hell Crow, something hailed as the strongest would probably be worth a fortune.”
When Kagami told her that, Alice went, “Hmm...” and, unusually, wore a thoughtful expression.
“...If you could meet it... what would you do, Kagami-san?”
After agonizing over it, Alice asked Kagami that question. Seeing no sign that she was lying, Kagami fell silent, his expression turning serious. He rose from his chair, bent down, and met Alice’s gaze.
“Do you know where it is?”
Kagami asked with a perfectly serious expression. Alice gave a small nod in response.
Kagami hadn’t assumed she was joking because it wouldn’t have been strange for Alice to know. After all, she was the daughter of the king who ruled the demons. Alice had even been to the Demon King’s Castle, so it made sense that she might know.
“If you show me a map, I can tell you roughly where it is. Menou might know more about it...”
Hearing that, Kagami turned toward Menou.
At that moment, Kenta-Uros was in the middle of roughly slamming one of Takako’s dishes down on the table in front of Menou.
Feeling sorry for Menou, whom Kenta-Uros was clearly taking liberties with, Kagami said, “Let’s go to the bathroom for a bit,” and led Menou outside the bar.
“Do you know about the Dark Dragon?”
As soon as they left the bar, Kagami took Menou around to the back. After checking that no one was nearby, he asked. Menou’s face, still twisted in confusion, instantly turned grave.
“I know of it... and I know where it’s said to be, but I doubt it really exists.”
Then Menou let out a deep sigh, as if to say it would be better for Kagami’s own good not to know, and answered.
“What do you mean? Have you never seen it?”
“No. There’s a lot about it that doesn’t make sense. The Demon King only told me a little... but first of all, even we demons are said to be forbidden from approaching it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know the exact reason myself. Since the place is extremely close to the royal capital, I assumed the Demon King said that out of concern for our safety... In any case, we demons know it’s there, but no one has confirmed whether it actually exists, so we don’t know.”
Kagami frowned at Menou’s answer. If it was somewhere near the royal capital, surely someone would have found the place by now.
He didn’t know exactly which spot they meant, but he knew the area around the royal capital well. There were no dungeons nearby where a powerful monster like the Dark Dragon could be lurking.
“So? Why did you ask me about it?”
“Alice told me she knows where it is. It seemed like we could make some money by defeating it, so I thought we might go take it down.”
“You’d better not. A book in the Demon King’s Castle library said the Dark Dragon was Level 500. But that only means its strength is equivalent to a Level 500 monster by the usual standards. Its strength can change drastically depending on its nature and traits.”
“I know that much.”
“You don’t, Kagami-dono! The Dark Dragon’s strength... probably matches the Demon King’s. The Demon King said so himself.”
Kagami understood what Menou meant. If he had to fight the Demon King to the death, he couldn’t win without using Restriction Release, which doubled his base stats for a short time but left him on the verge of death afterward.
Conversely, if he used it, he could definitely defeat the Demon King. But that was only because his opponent was the Demon King.
Some monsters grew stronger after being defeated once and then revived. Others spawned huge numbers of different monsters around them when they were defeated. If the Dark Dragon was one of those, Kagami would undoubtedly die.
Kagami could defeat the Demon King because he knew the Demon King. But he knew nothing about the Dark Dragon. Using Restriction Release without knowing its traits or even what sort of attacks it might use would be like gambling his life on a complete unknown.
“Don’t do it, Kagami-dono... That’s far too dangerous an opponent.”
Menou had thought it through carefully. If no one had found the place yet, it was probably a dungeon so well hidden that no one could locate it. And if it was a dungeon, even if Kagami defeated the Dark Dragon, other monsters could easily kill him while he was unable to move after using Restriction Release. Challenging the Dark Dragon was simply too risky.
Despite having no personal stake, Menou had immediately considered the possibility that Kagami could lose his life and warned him. Kagami was genuinely moved.
“But you’re going anyway, huh?”
But in the end, Kagami decided to go anyway. That’s right—he’d only been moved.